Books etc

The ideal ageing masculinity is expressed in the fit able body that signifies physical and sexual functionality and productive citizenship. British TV series Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), however, questions this idealised configuration. Focusing on the main male protagonist, Alan Buttershaw, this chapter analyses the various ways in which the series depicts his caring personality and the vulnerable ageing masculinity that he represents, through romantic and intergenerational narratives and in relation to other characters who differently highlight and interrogate hegemonic masculinity. As the analysis demonstrates, Alan is one of the ‘few good old men’, a form of ageing masculinity characterised by caring and an openness to vulnerability, qualities that are often repressed in youth.

Following work by scholars such as Vanessa Joosen ("Age Studies") and engaging with recent critiques of the child in time, this chapter brings aging studies and children's literature studies together to explore intergenerationality and what it may mean for our understanding of ourselves as temporal and relational beings. Furthermore, we bring an ecocritical perspective to this inquiry and consider how children's literature about intergenerational connection may help to imagine ourselves beyond human time and space. We consider the representation of the grandparent and grandchild in Stardust (UK, 2017) and Jiichan no naisho no umi (Japan, 1993), paying specific attention to the employment of the natural world in both text and illustrations. Our analysis reveals that the temporal convergence at the heart of the intergenerational relationship is closely associated with non-human, even planetary, time. Natural spaces are partly nostalgic in these books, but they also present the possibility of other ways of thinking about time beyond the linear, anthropocentric model. Our comparison of Japanese and UK texts also suggests how adult-child relationships and the mobilization of the natural world in their depictions are contextually specific. Ultimately, the chapter reiterates the importance of thinking about aging from life-course and posthumanist perspectives.

This book examines narratives of dementia in contemporary literary texts, studying what is now a pressing issue with deep political, economic, and social implications for many ageing societies. As part of the increasing visibility of dementia in social and cultural life, these narratives pose ethical, aesthetic, and political questions about subjectivity, agency, and care that help us to interrogate the cultural discourse of dementia. Contemporary Narratives of Dementia is a seminal book that offers a sustained examination of a wide range of literary narratives, from auto/biographies and detective fiction, to children’s books and comic books. With its wide-reaching theoretical and critical scope, its comparative dimension, and its inclusion of multiple genres, this book is important for scholars engaging with studies of dementia and ageing in diverse disciplines.

The ideal ageing masculinity is expressed in the fit able body that signifies physical and sexual functionality and productive citizenship. British TV series Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), however, questions this idealised configuration. Focusing on the main male protagonist, Alan Buttershaw, this chapter analyses the various ways in which the series depicts his caring personality and the vulnerable ageing masculinity that he represents, through romantic and intergenerational narratives and in relation to other characters who differently highlight and interrogate hegemonic masculinity. As the analysis demonstrates, Alan is one of the ‘few good old men’, a form of ageing masculinity characterised by caring and an openness to vulnerability, qualities that are often repressed in youth.